FM Sitharaman Urges UAE To Invest In India's National Infrastructure Pipeline

On Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a virtual bilateral meeting with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for Financial Affairs Obaid Al Tayer urging the Middle Eastern nation to participate in India's ambitious Rs 111 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP).

About 7,000 projects have been identified under NIP with a projected investment of Rs 111 lakh crore during 2020-25.

"Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman today held a bilateral meeting via VC with H.E. Obaid Al Tayer, MoS Financial Affairs, UAE," the finance ministry said in a series of tweets.

"Both leaders expressed respect for the long standing relationship between India & UAE, and the need to take it further in mutually beneficial ways," it added.

During the meeting, both the leaders agreed to co-operate on areas like financial technology (fintech).

"FM mentioned that with NIP, there are greater avenues between India & UAE to collaborate in the field of infrastructure investment. The leaders agreed to cooperate in area of FinTech especially UPI & RuPay card, thereby integrating financial transactions between two economies," another tweet said.

Addressing the nation on the country's 74th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that working in silos in the infrastructure space has ended and a large scheme to connect the country through a multi-modal connectivity infrastructure is ready.

The NIP will play a crucial role in pulling the country out of the impact of COVID-19, he had said.